Onion, tomatoes makes average veg food plate costlier in March by 7%
vegetarian meal platehas become more expensive backed by the surge in the price of onion, tomato and potato.
The cost of the representative home-cooked veg plate rose 7% in March against the same month last year, while that of the non-veg plate declined 7%, as per CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics report.
Compared to last month, however, the cost of the veg plate declined 1% and non-veg food plate rose 2%., due to higher demand amid Ramadan.
The average cost of a thali is calculated based on input prices prevailing in north, south, east, and west India. Monthly change reflects the impact on the common man’s expenditure.
There was a surge of 40%, 36% and 22% in prices of onion, tomato and potato, respectively, due to lower arrivals of onion and potato and low base of last fiscal for tomatoes
Prices of rice increased by 14% and prices of pulses increased by 22% year on year.
Rice accounts for 13% of the veg platecost and pulses accounts for 9% of the thali cost.
The decrease in the cost of the non-veg plate was due to 16% (yoY) fall in broiler prices on a high base of last fiscal, the report said.
«For the past five months, there has been a divergence in the cost of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food plates,» said Pushan Sharma, director of Research at CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, adding that the vegetarian food plate is becoming expensive and non-veg food plate is becoming cheaper.
“Going forward, we expect wheat prices to decline with fresh harvest arriving in the market and tomato
